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Let's Talk Poker - Playing the WSOP

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is designed to pit mankind against the grueling, grinding wheels of never ending cards being dealt, the insanity of too many bad beats, fields that number in the thousands, and mental and physical fatigue, only to find out that the biggest challenge in poker is sitting in your seat shuffling your chips while you wait for the next hand!

And you thought it was all about just playing poker and partying your ass off, right? It is! It is! You can take poker to a level that none of it makes any sense, especially the head-trip part. Like when you’ve convinced yourself that deck of cards from Hell follows you from table to table! You know that deck; the one that has only deuces and treys in it.*

If you’re poker savvy and know the basics of poker playing – watching poker on TV would qualify you if you watch the right shows – then you know what the WSOP is all about. If you’ve played a WSOP event, even better because you understand the excitement and buzz that builds 61 events into the World’s biggest fuel injected poker show.

Perhaps you’ve never been to the WSOP but you always wanted to go, or you have been there and you want to go back. P-s-s-s-s-t! You are not alone. It's not that the desire isn't there; it's just that sometimes what we have left after expenses wouldn't put us in action in a 1c/2c game. But the desire to go is still there, no matter how skinny our bankroll is.

The good news is that the WSOP is branching out and no matter what part of the world you live in, it could be easier than making arrangements to come to Las Vegas, Nevada; though it is unknown how long that could take. So before you get to old to say, “RAISE!” here are some options.

In the first article of this series, we talked about rating yourself to see what type of player you were; about setting a weekly money goal that you wanted to win; Everest Poker’s great 10 seat Freerolls that pay cash, and PartyPoker and Poker770’s FREE $50 for new PokerWorks’ players.

If you’ve set up a game plan to start winning regularly (remember, it doesn’t have to be ‘BIG’) and start stacking cash, you should have your weekly goal printed out and taped right beside your computer so each time you look over you are reinforcing your goal. Visualization works!

The next step is to get in action, the World Series kicks off in about three weeks, if you’re interested in playing to win a trip package. There are several online poker sites that are still running free event packages and some are running low buy-in satellites.

Think of it this way:
1) If you play and win a trip package, you are going to take the ride of your life through a world that will wrap you in excitement, challenges, emotion, and life-changing opportunities.
2) If you play and don’t win a trip package, most Freerolls and Satellites give away additional bonuses and prizes – which you could win; and the experience you’ll log on battling it out for big prizes just sends you forward with more confidence and skill.

*Rather than let your mind start playing "I can't win" tricks on you, take control of your game and start working at controlling certain triggers that make you go 'TILT' - control your game, don't let it control you!

Take a look at Adjusting to Online Tournament Poker. Actually, do more than look. Read through it to visualize the big picture and how you’re going to approach your game because this strategy piece talks about online poker and casino poker.

And our second pick for you is The Different Stages of a Tournament. Even if you are a skilled player and continually work at increasing your knowledge, reading a new idea - or an old idea presented a new way - can open your thoughts to make you a more powerful player.